(201) Magazine Blogs

Thursday, October 31, 2013

Good teams win the games they’re supposed to win, in a general, blanket statement sense.

So for a Rangers’ team that has yet to win consecutive games this season, beating the 2-11-1 Sabres at Madison Square Garden to start a four-game homestand a stretch of eight of 10 at home is somewhat of a litmus test as to whether they can be a consistent team this season.

In other words, they should win this game, especially after playing the way they did in Tuesday’s 3-2 win against the Islanders at Nassau Coliseum.

“It was a good win, a good character win,” Brian Boyle said. “We’re trying to stay positive and encourage one another and, at the same time, focus and try to string a couple together here, especially at home. Give our fans something to cheer about.”

For a home opener at a renovated arena, Monday’s Garden crowd for the 2-0 loss to the Canadiens was somewhat subdued, no doubt a reflection of how the home team played.

And if it’s a litmus test for the Rangers as a whole, the same can be said of Henrik Lundqvist as an individual. He reverted to his deep-in-the-net style on Monday and played well in the loss. But he has only two wins in eight games this season (one relief appearance for the since-retired Marty Biron) and hasn’t won since a 2-0 win at Washington on Oct. 16.

“It’s always a good feeling to win, that’s how you feel confidence again,” Lundqvist said. “As a goalie, you can only focus on you can’t control how you play as a team. The most important thing is to go out and give them a chance to win the game.”

The Sabres are at the very start of a rebuilding project and traded their co-captain, Thomas Vanek, to the Islanders on Sunday for left wing Matt Moulson and a first- and second-round pick. It’s expected the Sabres will also move Moulson, like Vanek an impending unrestricted free agent, for more draft picks prior to the March 5 trade deadline.

It also is expected the Sabres will try to move the 33-year-old Miller, also an upcoming UFA who does have a limited no-trade clause in his expiring five-year, $31.25 million deal.

The Sabres dressed three teen-agers in Girgensons, Grigorenko and Ristolainen. Along with defenseman Nikita Zadorov, a healthy scratch, the Sabres are the first NHL team since 1995-96 to dress four teens in a season.

However, it’s also fair to note the Sabres are 4-0-3 in their last seven games at the Garden and Miller is 8-2-4 in his last 15 against the Rangers with a 1.94 GAA and a .935 save percentage.
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About

ANDREW GROSS covers the New York Rangers for The Record and Herald News, having joined the North Jersey Media Group in November 2007. Gross also covered the Rangers and New York Jets, as well as St. John’s basketball and Army football, for Gannett Newspapers and The Journal News (N.Y.). He graduated from Syracuse University in 1989 with a degree in newspaper journalism.